|
 In
1894,
Sultan
Abdul
Hamid II began to target the Armenian people in a
precursor of the
Hamidian
massacres. This persecution strengthened
nationalistic sentiment among Armenians. The first notable
battle in the Armenian resistance movement took place in
Sassoun,
where nationalist ideals were proliferated by
Hunchak
activists, such as
Mihran
Damadian,
Hampartsoum Boyadjian, and
Hrayr.
The
Armenian
Revolutionary Federation also played a significant
role in arming the people of the region. The Armenians of
Sassoun confronted the Ottoman army and Kurdish irregulars at
Sassoun, succumbing to superior numbers.
The First Sassoun Resistance
of
1894
(Armenian:
Սասնո
առաջին
ապստամբութիւն) was the resistance of the
Hunchak
militia
of the
Sassoun
region.
Foreign reaction
Foreign news agents protested vehemently against the Sassoun
event; British Prime Minister
William
Gladstone called Hamid "the Great Criminal" or "the
Red Sultan". The rest of the
Great
Powers also protested and demanded the execution of
Hamid's promised reforms. Investigation committees composed of
French, British, and Russian representatives were sent to the
region in order to examine the event.
In
May
1895,
the aforementioned foreign powers prepared a set of reforms.
However, they never carried out, because they weren't actively
imposed on Ottoman Turkey. In those days, the
Russian
Empire's policies vis-a-vis the Armenian question had
changed. In fact, the Russian foreign minister
Alexei
Lobanov-Rostovsky supported Ottoman integrity.
Moreover he was so
anti-Armenian that he wanted "an Armenia without the
Armenians". On the other hand, Britain had gained considerable
influence and power in former Ottoman
Egypt
and
Cyprus,
and for Gladstone, good relations with the Ottomans weren't as
important as they formerly were. Meanwhile, Turkey found a new
European ally,
Germany's
Bismarck.
The Ottoman Empire thus didn't feel threatened to commit further
massacres
in 1896.
The
Second Sassoun Resistance of
1904
(Armenian:Սասունի
երկրորդ
ապստամբութիւնը) was the resistance of the
militia
in the
Sassoun
region.
The Turks who were previously defeated in the
First
Zeitoun Resistance didn't want the formation of
another semi-autonomous Armenian region in the "Eastern"
vilayets. In
Sassoun,
Armenian activists were working to arm the folk and to recruit
young men by motivating them to the Armenian cause
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